I would not be surprised if Giulia Iaquinto qualified for the Guinness Book of World Records. A Wyndmoor resident for 65 years, Giulia is 98 years old, but she still occasionally makes delectable pizzas at Tony’s Pizza City, which she and her husband, the late Anthony Sr., opened 63 years ago at 901 E. Willow Grove Ave. in Wyndmoor.

“I still feel pretty good,” said Iaquinto, who walks around the shop without any need for assistance in the restaurant that has become a landmark in the community. “Tony and I came here from Italy in 1948. I was one of 10 children growing up in the town of Vietri di Potenza in the south of Italy near Naples. When I came here, I learned English on my own and assimilated. I still read Italian newspapers online, though. I keep up with the news.”

Iaquinto was a G.I. Bride. Her late husband grew up in Camden. He joined the Army at age 17 and was sent to New Guinea, where he fought in combat and wound up with malaria. After his discharge in the summer of 1948, he happened to meet Giulia in her hometown.

“His balcony overlooked Giulia’s garden,” said Iaquinto’s daughter, Lisa, also a Wyndmoor resident. “She came from a very strict Catholic family. Tony had to get permission to go for a walk with Giulia, and those walks were chaperoned for three months. Then they got married in Pompeii. Giulia did prep work in the restaurant every day until Tony (her son) sold it in 2022, but she still comes in to work from time to time.”

Anthony Sr. ran the business from 1962 to 1989, after which his son, Tony, ran it until he sold the business in June 2022 to Luciano Grande Tula, who retained the name Tony’s Pizza City. Tony died of heart disease on June 23 of this year in his Wyndmoor home. He was 68.

He once told the Local that, when his parents opened the business in 1962, there were days when there were almost no customers, but when they started using his mother’s recipes that the family grew up with, things picked up considerably. “The dough is a family recipe,” he said in a 2017 conversation. “My mom learned to make bread in Italy with her mom. She would make the dough and knead it at the table. We still use that recipe.”

Tula, 46, who grew up in Mexico, immigrated to the United States in 1997. For years, he worked in a lunch truck at Allegheny Avenue and Tioga Street in North Philadelphia. Then for 13 years, he was a banquet chef for the Philadelphia Cricket Club, doing as many as 80 weddings in a year, but he left in 2022 to buy Tony’s Pizza City. Giulia and Lisa both said they are delighted at what Tula has done with the place, adding many new dishes and expanding the clientele.

“I am not worried about money,” said Tula, the father of three children. “I am just worried about the food. We are open seven days a week. I know seven days a week is a lot, but I will rest when I die. I still have family in Mexico, and some day I will retire to Mexico.”

“Mom showed Luciano how to make the cheesesteak bread and how to make the dough rise and how to roll the dough,” Lisa said. “It wasn’t soft enough before. Now it’s perfect. Mom still makes the dough at home.”

Tula always has daily specials like a large pizza and 12 wings on Friday for $24.99. I recently got a large veggie stromboli with onions, spinach, peppers, mushroom and tomato ($20), and it was gigantic. It could have fed the entire Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line. This will seem like hyperbole, but this monster fed me for six days. And the mixed cheese hoagie ($11.95), also huge, comprised two tasty dinners.

The late Tony Iaquinto is still fondly remembered by so many in the community. After he retired, he volunteered for Montgomery County Meals on Wheels in Glenside at Carmel Presbyterian Church. “He loved it there, and they loved him,” his wife, Marianne, said.

Tony was a memorable character for many reasons. For example, even though he worked with various meats almost every day for decades, he was a vegetarian. Marianne said, “He became a vegetarian after watching a documentary called ‘Forks Over Knives.’ Our son, Chris, and two grandchildren are all vegetarians. In fact, our two grandkids have never tasted meat in their lives. I have been a vegan since 2014.”

For more information, call 215-233-2122 or visit pizzacitywyndmoor.com. Len Lear can be reached at Lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.